


And This Is My Problem Because...?

by bookfreak1317



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Happy Hogan, BAMF Laura Barton, BAMF Pepper Potts, BAMF Tony Stark, Consequences, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Manipulation, Not Canon Compliant, Not Clint Friendly, Not Natasha Friendly, Not Nick Fury Friendly, Not Phil Coulson Friendly, Not Steve Friendly, Not Wanda Friendly, Team Tony, anger issues, mentions of torture, not SHIELD friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-04-20 10:39:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14259180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookfreak1317/pseuds/bookfreak1317
Summary: The Avengers seem to be under the impression that it's Tony' responsibility to clean up the mess from the DC Incident and Data Dump. He'd like for them to show him where it says that in his job description.





	1. Anger

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SlytherinQueen021](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinQueen021/gifts).



> Disclaimer: The MCU doesn't belong to me!
> 
> I received a prompt from SlytherinQueen021 and that prompt went from a quick one-shot into a multi-chaptered fic. I currently have three chapters and am planning more. Whoops? I hope you like how this story turned out.
> 
> This story did turn out kinda dark at the beginning. There are mentions of torture and psychological damage. I promise the aftermath of that will be addressed and everyone will eventually be okay. I also may have gone off track at some points, but I think I got the majority of what the prompt asked for.
> 
> Thanks for taking the time to read this! Please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments below :)

**Clint's PoV**

Clint Barton was furious. He honestly couldn’t remember a time in his life when he was last this angry. He was angry when his asshole of a father left him, he was angry when his brother Barney betrayed him for the millionth time, and he was angry when Loki forced him to attack coworkers and friends at SHIELD. But none of those times could even come to close to how he was feeling now. That terrible combination of fury and betrayal.

SHIELD was all a lie. The organization that Clint had dedicated his life to turned out to be HYDRA, one of the worst terrorist groups in history. Not only that, but they were plotting to kill thousands by using the resources Clint had spent his life collecting and protecting for the greater good. This betrayal quickly became the worst betrayal he had ever faced until Stark. Tony. Fucking. Stark.

Clint knew that Stark was selfish and that his ego prevented him from doing things that didn’t personally benefit him, but he never thought that Stark would consider helping his family as unimportant.

***FLASHBACK***

While doing a grocery run one day, Clint was shocked when his cell started ringing with the name “Phil” popping up. Clint didn’t hesitate to answer and definitely didn’t hesitate to shove his shopping cart to the side and book it to his car when Phil said the words he feared the most. “Laura and the kids were attacked.”

It had turned out that info dump on HYDRA wasn’t just on HYDRA. It was on both HYDRA and SHIELD. Nothing dumped had been encrypted or protected. Nothing dumped had been scooped back up before enemies globally were able to access them. Everything SHIELD/HYDRA had on their servers was released to the world. The files should've just been wrapped up with a bow and a card saying “Come and get your revenge”. And that’s what happened to Clint’s family.

Clint had made a lot of enemies during his time as a sniper for SHIELD and his time as an Avenger. And those enemies had quickly found his home, his family, and went after them for revenge. Thankfully Phil had predicted something like this would occur and had quickly planned a rescue mission. Thankfully Clint had been on a week leave for some family time when the attack occurred so he was able to beat those sons of bitches into the ground. Unfortunately for them, Phil wasn’t fast enough to prevent any harm from occurring and Clint’s beatings weren’t able to undo the damage.

His wife wouldn’t be the same from the attack and it would take the kids years to recover from watching what happened to their mother. They had held her down and burned her face, all the while talking about how she and Clint would never be able to hide again. They held her down and cut off her ring finger and wedding ring, laughing about how she should’ve thought twice before marrying a SHIELD agent. His poor kids were forced to watch as she screamed and pleaded for them to stop. Thankfully, those fuckers decided that witnessing these atrocities was enough pain for his kids and they didn’t physically harm them. But it would be years before they even came close to recovering psychologically.

Since the attack, the kids had to be sedated nightly in order to sleep. Each one would wake within an hour of falling asleep, screaming for help and for their mom, whenever they attempted sleep normally. The two kids refused to leave the hospital room where their mother was staying, terrified that if they couldn’t see her the “bad men” would come back and kill her. They were also unable to be around any men, including Clint. Even though Clint was their father and Laura’s husband, the kids were associating men with those who mutilated their mother. Clint had talked to a psychiatrist and they said that given the trauma the two children faced, it made sense for them to make associations between the attack and the world around them. The two children were going to need time to process and work through the horrendous memories. Clint tried to not take their fear personally, but it hurt that every time he tried to peek into Laura’s room to check on them that his children would scream in terror and would demand he leave before he could hurt their mom.

It was two weeks before the children were able to be in the same room as him and another two before they were able to leave the hospital and set up at a new safe house, one that was  _completely_  off the books. It would hopefully be a fresh start for his family. They had burned down the previous farm after the house was cleared by some of Phil’s underlings. Thank God for Phil, Clint wouldn’t have ever been able to go back there without remembering the atrocities that occurred.

It was during their second week at the new house that Clint learned of Stark’s betrayal. Clint was following the coverage on the data dump and was trying to understand what had happened. He knew that Steve and Natasha had been on the scene and trying to handle things, but that obviously didn’t happen. How had they lost control of the situation so much? Why had all of the files been dumped online? Why didn’t they call him to give him a heads up? Why had they forgotten his family?

It was during Natasha questioning that he found out. When asked about encrypting the files and why that hadn’t occurred, Natasha raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow and jut out her chin slightly. “Why would I know how to do that? I may be one of the best spies in the field, but I’m not a genius. I know how to hack, I know how to infiltrate, I know how to steal. I've been trained to know how to reveal people’s secrets. Why am I expected to know how to encrypt and run the world wide web as well?”

The Senate subcommittee questioning (interrogating!) her, looked furious at her response. “If you didn’t know how to protect SHIELD’s confidential information, why did you risk dumping it all onto the internet? Why didn’t you get outside assistance? Thousands of agents and their families are either at risk or are dead because of your actions.”

Natasha leaned forward, putting on a predatory smirk. “More would’ve died if we hadn’t done what we did. Besides, there wasn’t time and we weren’t going to risk HYDRA succeeding in their plans. We had to make a decision and that was the only option available. Besides, we figured that Stark would take care of the files. As much as I hate to admit it, no one is better than him at technology. Why he didn’t do anything, I don’t know.”

Clint’s vision went red at the words.  Stark was supposed to help with the files and didn’t?!?! Why wouldn’t he help out? It was his fault that his wife was tortured! It was his fault his kids now flinched at every noise!!!

Stark would pay. Stark would pay for forgetting about his family and the other SHIELD agents. Clint would show him and would make him pay. He would regret the day he messed with HIS family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PROMPT: I actually had a story idea about what would have happened if Tony had decided not to save anybody when the spider and Rogers decide to do that info dump. It was basically him feeling like well why should I help you guys out when Killian was blowing at my house none of you guys had my back. and when hell went to him for a job he kindly reminded her about the folder that said, Iron Man, yes Tony Stark, No and him telling her that that means that Tony Stark won't be hiring or helping anyone from Shield AKA Hydra. I made it so Colson got to Clint's family in time but Laura did get injured though and yes Clint did try to blame Tony to which Tony kindly reminded Clint that Natasha and Rogers, not him dumped all of Shield's information on the world wide web and if he had issues that he needs to take it up with his so-called friends. you think you can make my jumbled thoughts into a decent story?


	2. Plotting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y'all so much for the wonderful response this story has received so far! 50 bookmarks, over 120 kudos, and over 2,000 hits! And that was just for the first chapter! Y'all are absolutely amazing. :)
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well. Please feel free to leave constructive criticism and feedback in the comments below. I love hearing back from everyone. :)

**Clint's PoV**

***PRESENT***

Clint was halfway to Stark tower before he realized he should probably have back up. Stark had access to all of his Iron Man suits (He didn't believe that Stark actually destroyed them...) and he was sure that he wouldn’t hesitate to use them in order to prevent Clint from succeeding.

Clint called up Natasha first, he figured she would definitely have his back. After all, she was the one to inform him and the world of Stark’s part. After reaching her voicemail 3 times, Clint realized that she was probably still in the subcommittee meeting and wasn’t available yet. He left a quick voicemail detailing what he was planning and where to meet him before calling up Steve. Steve would hopefully have his back as well. Steve answered on the first ring.

“Hi, Clint, is everything okay?”

“I need your help, Steve. I just learned that it’s Stark’s fault that the SHIELD files weren’t encrypted. It's his fault so many people died and were injured. It’s his fault that Laura was hurt!” Clint snarled into the phone. The pool of anger inside of him just kept growing by the second. The anger was overwhelming.

“Who’s Laura?” Steve’s confused and concerned voice asked over the line. Damn, Clint forgot that only Natasha knew about his wife and family.

“Laura’s my wife. She and my kids were attacked after some assholes got our private information off of the data dump. I need Stark to understand that what happened to my family is unforgivable and that he needs to make up for it.” Clint couldn’t help but also think about the thousands of dollars they had racked up in the hospital and psychiatric bills. If he could get Stark to pay for that AND suffer for his crimes, it would be like an early Christmas for him.

Steve was quiet for a minute before finally responding. “Clint, it’s not just Tony’s fault. I made the decision with Natasha and she only contacted him the day after once we realized SHIELD files made it online along with the HYDRA files. I’m so sorry about that.”

Clint was conflicted before the anger came soaring back. Here was Steve trying to apologize for something that wasn't even his fault, and Tony fucking Stark didn't even attempt to do the same! “It’s not your fault Cap, you guys did what you had to do. It may be your fault it happened in the first place, but it's Stark's fault that nothing happened after getting Natasha's message. Besides, he shouldn’t even have to receive a message from you guys to do anything. He should’ve been more on top of things and more vigilant. It’s been weeks since the data dump and he STILL hasn’t done anything about it. What’s his excuse there? Laziness?"

Steve was quiet for a moment before letting out a sigh over the line. “You’re right Clint. As much as I hate to admit it, Tony _is_ in the wrong. Tony has had plenty of time to fix the files but he hasn’t. It’s not fair or safe for all of those agents and their families. It’s definitely not fair to you. Do you want me to join you in talking to him?’

Clint let out a sigh of relief. Having Steve there would honestly make a world of difference. Clint knew he had anger issues so it was probably good to have a voice of reason there as well. It also didn't hurt that Steve was Stark’s role model growing up. He remembered reading that in his file. Stark was probably more likely to listen to what Steve had to say. Stark would never want to disappoint the man who was both his and his father's hero.

“Thank you so much Cap, I really appreciate having your support here.”

After talking for another minute about where and when they would meet up, they ended the conversation. Clint was feeling a lot better about his plan to confront Stark. Stark would have to admit he was in the wrong and fix this problem. He couldn’t hide from it anymore.

*****

It was only a few hours later that Steve and Clint met up in front of Stark Tower. Clint was a little annoyed when Steve showed up a few minutes late. He had figured Steve would beat him there considering that he lived in the same state as Stark, while Clint came all the way from the middle of the freaking country. And he'd only been able to make it there so quickly due to Phil leaving Clint with one of his jets for emergencies.

“Hi, Clint, sorry I’m a little late. I wanted to see if I could get in contact with Sam, the other guy that helped with the HYDRA infiltration, but he’s not answering my calls. Hopefully, he’ll get my messages soon and can join us here. I figured having another individual who was there when it all went down would help Tony realize his mistake.” Steve said, looking sheepish while rubbing the back of his head.

Clint felt some of the anger disappear at Steve’s words. Steve was just trying to help his case. It was odd that both Natasha and Steve’s friend was unavailable at the same time though. You would think they would do their best to be available to help with any more issues relating to the data dump....

“I’m guessing that he’s probably busy with his patients. He works at the VA as a therapist.”

“He works at the VA? How do you know him? And what made him qualified to help with the HYDRA situation?” Clint had to admit that he was a little curious. Last he checked, Steve could barely figure out the transportation system in New York. Now he was making friends at the VA? When did that happen?

“He and I go jogging together. He also used to be in the military until his partner died during combat. Afterward, he found that he couldn't continue on without him and Sam decided to help other military men who were in similar situations to his. Kinda reminds me of me and Bucky.” Steve said, smiling slightly with a faraway look in his eyes. “But don’t worry, he has had a lot of experience with covert missions like that one. He was a great help.”

Clint was happy to hear that Steve was making friends outside of SHIELD and the Avengers, especially since SHIELD was now gone. He definitely needed it. Whenever Clint saw him on missions and asked him how life was going, Steve mainly talked about SHIELD and training. It was always surprising whenever Steve brought up a book he read or a movie he saw. Hopefully having a new friend would help him out some.

"That’s great Steve! I’m happy to hear you’re meeting new people.” Clint said, smiling at Steve. Steve’s smile grew at Clint’s words and Clint couldn’t help but feel a little giddy at the smile. Captain America had been one of his heroes growing up and even though he knew Steve was just like anyone else, a little hero worship came through whenever Steve gave him praise or gave him one of his patented 'Captain America Approves”'smile.

Their comradery lasted for another moment before they remembered why they were there and things quickly became somber. It was time to deal with Stark and his irresponsible behavior. This couldn’t stand any longer. Stark had to realize his mistake and own up to it. He had to pay for what he did. For what he did to Clint’s family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PROMPT: I actually had a story idea about what would have happened if Tony had decided not to save anybody when the spider and Rogers decide to do that info dump. It was basically him feeling like well why should I help you guys out when Killian was blowing at my house none of you guys had my back. and when hell went to him for a job he kindly reminded her about the folder that said, Iron Man, yes Tony Stark, No and him telling her that that means that Tony Stark won't be hiring or helping anyone from Shield AKA Hydra. I made it so Colson got to Clint's family in time but Laura did get injured though and yes Clint did try to blame Tony to which Tony kindly reminded Clint that Natasha and Rogers, not him dumped all of Shield's information on the world wide web and if he had issues that he needs to take it up with his so-called friends. you think you can make my jumbled thoughts into a decent story?


	3. Confrontation Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Thanks again for all of the love and support this story has received so far, y'all are wonderful. I haven't had a chance to respond to the comments on the last chapter, I apologize for that. I've been uber busy with work and final projects for college. I will hopefully get around to responding in the next day or two.
> 
> I hope you enjoy chapter 3, I had tons of fun writing it. As always, please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments below! :)

**Clint's PoV**

“Excuse me, sirs, do you have an appointment?”

Steve and Clint both froze at the voice on their way to the elevators. Clint scowled at the interruption. Was this secretary an idiot? Did she not recognize who they were?

Clint saw a flash of irritation in Steve’s eyes before he threw on a 100 Watt smile and turned to face the secretary. Clint was surprised to see the woman’s face harden at Steve’s smile. Most women swooned whenever Steve threw a smile like that their way. Was she a lesbian or something?

“Hi, ma'am. I guess you don’t recognize me. I’m Steve Rogers, Captain America and this is Clint Barton,” He gestured towards Clint. "Hawkeye. We’re members of the Avengers.”

The woman raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Steve’s words. “Okay. And?”

Steve looked surprised at the woman’s question. Clint had to admit he was surprised as well. The woman knew who they were but wasn’t going to drop this stupid idea of scheduling an appointment? It wasn’t that surprising that Stark would hire an incompetent secretary.

“We’re here to see Stark.” Clint snapped, pushing in front of Steve. They didn’t have time for Steve’s nice guy routine. They had to talk to Stark. NOW.

The woman looked even more unimpressed with Clint’s tone of voice. “Great. What time is your appointment, who's it with, and what is your access code number?”

“Access code?” Steve and Clint asked. Why the hell would they need access codes? This was Stark Towers, not a secret agency.

“Every visitor is required to present a unique access code. We have constantly rotating codes, due to what is going on in the building. We have important business meetings, dangerous and important experiments, and highly classified information regarding SI and our clients. We don’t want any person to just come off of the street, access said information, and then release it to the world.” The look the woman gave them made Clint angrier than he already was. She was trying to guilt them into feeling bad about the SHIELD info dump!

“Listen here, you bitch.” Clint snarled, slamming his hands down on the lady’s desk. “We are Avengers and so is Stark. We have the right to be here and the right to talk to him. Stark owes us. He’s finally fucked up one time too many.”

It hadn't seemed possible, but the scowl on the secretary's face deepened. “Sir, I am going to tell you once to back away from the desk and to leave. If you don’t, security won’t hesitate to detain you until the police arrive.” She gestured over to the security detail that had gathered in the room during their confrontation.

Before he could tell the bitch off, Steve interrupted. “Miss, I’m sorry about Clint. He’s just upset because his wife and children were harmed due to the information released online. He just wanted to talk to Tony about the situation and ask him why he didn’t encrypt the data when we told him about it.” Steve laid a hand on Clint’s shoulder, giving the woman puppy dog eyes. Clint was fucking pissed that they had to explain his situation to this damn bitch. They were Avengers! They shouldn’t have to suck up to some lowly bitch on a power trip.

“I’m sorry to hear about your family, sir. But why is this any of Dr. Stark’s concern? He wasn’t there during the DC Incident.”

Clint wasn’t able to stop himself from launching at the woman. He was going to kill her! She was trying to minimize his family’s suffering! HIS suffering!

Both Clint and Steve were quickly thrown back as a shockwave emitted from the watch the secretary was wearing. It looked like Stark even armed his most insignificant employees. She then hit a button on her desk, activating the alarms that lined the walls. Why did Stark have freaking alarms in his building? It’s not like signing paperwork was a dangerous job.

Clint and Steve quickly scrambled to their feet before getting into a fighting position. The security detail quickly surrounded them and all of them were armed with either tasers or pepper spray. A few of them were even holding what looked like, metal sticks? What were those?

“Sirs, we are going to ask you to stand down and surrender yourself peacefully. This is your only chance.” The head of the detail said, giving them a withering glare. Clint quickly glanced at his name tag (what kind of name was Happy?) before looking around at the men (and women?) who surrounded them. There were at least 20 of them, not including the individuals helping with the evacuation of the building. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the bitch of a secretary hadn't left and was actually putting what looked like earplugs on. So the bitch could dish it out verbally, but couldn’t handle hearing a fight? Pathetic.

Clint made eye contact with Steve and at his nod, they both leaped into action. It looked like they were going to have to fight their way to Stark’s floor. This was going to be such a waste of time and would be embarrassing for the employees once they confronted Stark and he told his employees off for this behavior.

Clint wasn't even able to get one punch in before a loud screeching sound echoed throughout the lobby. He went to cover his ears but his body suddenly seized and he collapsed to the floor. He tried to open his mouth to yell at them to let him go, but he wasn't able. Clint was shocked to see Steve in the same position as him on the floor. That noise took him out too? Was it able to overpower the super serum in him Clint tried to glare at the people surrounding them but he wasn’t sure if his eyes were working like they were supposed to. They were going to regret this!!!

He could hear one of the security guards calling the police and two of them were talking into microphones on their sleeves. The head of security, Happy, leaned over his body, a look of amusement on his face. “Boss doesn’t take kindly to those who attempt to harm any of his people.”

Clint tried to lunge at the man, but he body STILL wasn’t cooperating! Before he could try again, Happy pricked him in the neck (where did that needle come from?) and everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PROMPT: I actually had a story idea about what would have happened if Tony had decided not to save anybody when the spider and Rogers decide to do that info dump. It was basically him feeling like well why should I help you guys out when Killian was blowing at my house none of you guys had my back. and when hell went to him for a job he kindly reminded her about the folder that said, Iron Man, yes Tony Stark, No and him telling her that that means that Tony Stark won't be hiring or helping anyone from Shield AKA Hydra. I made it so Colson got to Clint's family in time but Laura did get injured though and yes Clint did try to blame Tony to which Tony kindly reminded Clint that Natasha and Rogers, not him dumped all of Shield's information on the world wide web and if he had issues that he needs to take it up with his so-called friends. you think you can make my jumbled thoughts into a decent story?


	4. Confrontation Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> Thanks again for the wonderful response this story has had so far, it makes me so happy to know that people are enjoying this story. I'm having a great time writing it. I currently have chapters 5 and 6 completed, and am almost finished with chapter 7. I'm currently planning on writing a chapter 8 and 9 as well. I'm estimating that this story will be done by chapter 9 but who knows. The muse may decide otherwise. We'll see ;)
> 
> Thanks again for taking the time to read this little story of mine. I love all of you for it. As always, please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments below! :)

**Clint's PoV**

Clint came to laying on a cot. He quickly sat up and looked around the cell he was in. There seemed to only be the cot, a toilet and sink, and a nightstand. There was also a pile of blankets and books on top of said nightstand. Clint picked up the top book and scowled. Anger Management for Dummies? Really? Who’s idea of a joke was that? Clint put the book back down and got up to analyze the cell. After not finding anything, he decided it was time to get answers.

“Hey!” Clint yelled, walking over to the glass wall that made up the front of the cell. What kind of holding cell was this? “Let me out!” He banged his hands angrily on the glass. Damn, that was thick glass.

“I ask that you step away from the glass before I’m forced to sedate you, Mr. Barton.” A British voice echoed throughout the cell, causing him to jump in surprise. Was that Stark’s weird computer, AI thingy? Jason? Jared? Jarvis? It was something with a J.

“Why am I locked up? What did I 'supposedly' do?” Clint snarled, looking around wildly. Where do you look when you’re talking to a weird computer thing? It was reminding him too much of Skynet.

“You’ve been detained for trespassing and attempted assault. You came onto SI property, attempted to bypass SI security protocol, and then proceeded to threaten and attempt to attack an SI receptionist. Instead of coming in quietly afterward, you then attempted to attack SI’s security detail.” The voice announced. “The police have been contacted and the District Attorney is charging you with multiple accounts of attempted assault and trespassing.”

Clint was furious. First, Stark does nothing about the data dump. Then, he refuses to talk to them about it. Now he’s charging them with assault? And trespassing? Was he a child???

“Stark is having us charged because his incompetent secretary wouldn’t let us in to see him? Are you kidding me?”

“No, you are being charged by the Attorney General because we have all of your crimes on surveillance video.” Clint couldn’t decide whether he was relieved or angry to see Stark and his girlfriend walk in. Why was she here?

“Steve and I didn’t do anything wrong. That bitch of a secretary wouldn’t let us in and then she had the nerve to blame Steve for what happened to my family and all of those other agents!” If he ever saw that bitch again, he was going to kill her.

“Barton, she was doing her job. It’s against SI policy for her to allow anyone in if they don’t have an appointment and access code.” Stark said slowly. Did Stark think Clint was an idiot or something? “You guys didn’t even attempt to make an appointment and tried to attack her for stating a fact.”

“She attacked us!” Clint yelled, smashing his hands against the glass. “She used that stupid watch of hers for no reason! We didn’t do anything!”

“Didn’t do anything?” The redhead asked incredulously. Potts! That was her name. “You lunged at her snarling like a wild animal, and she had to use the watch to protect herself. Thank God Tony decided to require SI employees who may be threatened and harmed to be armed with SI tech.”

“We decided to implement this policy after a similar situation occurred a few years ago,” Stark explained, looking smug. That damn bastard. “Some asshole was pissed we wouldn’t let him in and he stabbed the receptionist in response. He had to be taken down by our security detail. It turned out he was trying to break into the R&D department to steal the plans for the latest smartphone at the time.”

“Steve and I weren’t trying to steal anything! We wanted to talk to you about why you didn’t do anything about the data dump!!!” Clint was fuming. He just wanted to punch that smug bastard in the face.

“Why would I do anything about the dump?” Stark asked. He even had the nerve to look confused. “I wasn’t there when Rogers and Romanova released the data online. I didn’t even find out about it until I was fielding calls from the President, asking me why he wasn’t informed about the Avengers' plan. It was shocking to learn that they didn’t even bother warning me about it. They had plenty of time according to the surveillance footage. Instead, they asked Cap’s friend, Sam Wilson, some guy he barely knew. They had only known each other a few weeks before this all happened. And even then, they’re only jogging buddies.”

“Natasha said to the committee that she called you about the info dump and you didn’t do anything about it!” Why would Stark try to pin all the blame on Natasha and Steve? It was his fault the situation escalated so much!

“She called me the day after the data dump. After she and Rogers originally ignored my calls. Besides, by the time I got in contact with them, it was too late to do anything. Anyone who wanted the information had already grabbed it and downloaded it onto multiple servers.”

Clint was furious. Okay, Natasha and Steve should’ve talked to Stark sooner, but they were busy saving the world! They didn't have time to plan all of that out. Also, why wasn’t Stark paying closer attention anyway? Didn’t he see the news talking about the arrest warrants out for Steve and Natasha? Didn’t he see the news coverage about the helicarriers falling onto DC?

“You saw the news!” Clint screamed, smashing his hands against the glass yet again. Why wouldn’t this damn glass break? “Why didn’t you do anything about the situation?!?!”

“Why should I? You guys didn’t call me when the Mandarin was after me and blew up my house! You guys didn’t do anything when it looked like I died? It was all over the news! Besides, I don’t owe you guys anything! In case you guys forgot, I’m just a consultant.” Stark said sarcastically. “‘Iron Man, Yes. Tony Stark, Not Recommended’. Or did you forget that your buddy Natasha wrote that report?”

“We were busy! Besides, you didn’t bother trying to contact us about it. We figured you had it all handled. You’re a billionaire and you have hundreds of connections. You didn’t need our help.” The whole situation was just making Clint angrier. Stark was trying to turn the situation around and blame them all for it! And no one else was here to help him prove Stark wrong.

“Where’s Steve?” Clint asked, realizing that he was one person who could help show Stark how wrong he was. He couldn't ignore his childhood hero. “He was there for the whole situation! He experienced what happened and will be able to show you how wrong you are. You owe him an apology for what happened!”

“Rogers is currently being held the upstairs holding facility. He was originally down here as well but he damaged his cell.” Stark gestured to a cell that Clint hadn’t noticed. Clint was surprised to see that the glass wall was splintered and chunks of glass were lying on the floor in front of it. The furniture inside of the cell was also destroyed and laying in jagged pieces. Wow, Steve must’ve been furious. “His new cell was reinforced for his strength. He is also being charged with trespassing, aggravated assault, and now property destruction.”

“Those charges are just for what occurred at SI. The subcommittee finished their investigation and Rogers, Romanov, and that Wilson guy have all been arrested.” Potts pulled out her phone and start reading from it. “They’ve all been charged treason, negligent homicide, conspiracy, accessory to murder, obstruction of justice, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Potts said, looking up from her smartphone and smirking. He was going to wipe that smug smirk off of her face!

“Why would they be charged? They didn’t do anything wrong!” What was Stark playing at? Did he find it funny that he had so much power?

“They dumped confidential SHIELD files onto the internet. Thousands of agents were exposed and so were their families. People died and were injured because of their actions. Or did you forget about your own family?”

Clint flew into a rage at those words. He was going to kill them! He was going to make Stark pay for what he did! For what he was doing! He was going to pay for harming his family! Clint started banging on the glass and throwing the furniture around the cell. He needed to get out of here!!! After about a minute of this, Clint suddenly felt woozy and fell to the ground. Shit, was there some kind of knockout gas in the room? Before Clint could ask, he passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PROMPT: I actually had a story idea about what would have happened if Tony had decided not to save anybody when the spider and Rogers decide to do that info dump. It was basically him feeling like well why should I help you guys out when Killian was blowing at my house none of you guys had my back. and when hell went to him for a job he kindly reminded her about the folder that said, Iron Man, yes Tony Stark, No and him telling her that that means that Tony Stark won't be hiring or helping anyone from Shield AKA Hydra. I made it so Colson got to Clint's family in time but Laura did get injured though and yes Clint did try to blame Tony to which Tony kindly reminded Clint that Natasha and Rogers, not him dumped all of Shield's information on the world wide web and if he had issues that he needs to take it up with his so-called friends. you think you can make my jumbled thoughts into a decent story?


	5. Steve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter! It is longer than my usual chapters (yay!) so hopefully y'all enjoy it and find it satisfying, instead of long winded. Once I got started on this chapter, the words wouldn't stop flowing.
> 
> Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to read and comment! I appreciate every single one of you. Please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments down below. :)
> 
> P.S. I don't mind if you guys leave Infinity War spoilers in the comments. I'm not sure when I'll get around to actually seeing it and I know that social media will probably spoil it for me anyway. Just begin your comment with SPOILER ALERT so that other readers and commenters are forewarned. :)

**Tony's PoV**

Tony sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. It looked like his work was finally done. Well, as done as it could be when it came to one Natalia Romanova (he's pretty sure that's her real name….) and Stephen Rogers.

Since the DC Incident and Data Dump, life was hectic. The one time Tony decides to listen to his doctors and take the week off for himself, everything goes to hell. Rogers and Romanov decided to drop thousands of classified documents onto the internet, leading to the attacks and deaths of thousands, and the US government breathing down his neck next day. It wasn’t until Tony turned on his phone the next day, that he learned what was going on. It was fun to realize that he had missed 7 calls from the department of security and 5 from the President’s private line.

He was shocked to hear about what happened and wished he had been able to help them more. He wished he had been able to tell them what the two of them had been thinking, but he didn’t have a clue. He hadn’t talked to them personally since the Chitauri invasion and whenever he did receive communication from them, it was through SHIELD and was in relation to their missions. So he was honetsly surprised that Romanov and Rogers didn’t even attempt to reach out to him. They had never hesitated to do so before, so why was this situation so different?

Tony had called Rogers 10 times and Romanov 12 times with no answer. It wasn’t until later that day he finally received a call back from Romanov.

“What do you want Stark?” Romanov snapped. “You’ve been blowing up my phone all morning. I know it’s a foreign concept to you, but some of us are actually busy doing work.”

“Are you busy dropping more confidential files onto the internet again?” Tony snapped angrily. He wanted to keep his cool but he was furious. The President was demanding to know what happened and why his team didn’t inform anyone of what was going down. It was pretty awkward to have to tell the President that you had no clue what was going on and were actually on medical leave when the shit hit hte fan. “I’ve had to fend off calls all day from the United Government and the _President_ , asking me why all of these important files were suddenly dumped onto the internet with no encryption whatsoever. Would you mind explaining that to me?”

Romanov snorted over the line. “Stop overreacting Stark. It was only HYDRA files, nothing important. I’m going to hang up now.”

“Nothing important?!?! Are you kidding me?!?!” Tony yelled, tightening his grip on the phone. His patience was gone. “You dropped SHIELD’s files onto the internet as well! Any person with a computer can access this information!!! And do you know who SHIELD has files on? Everyone! And you didn’t even bother attempting to encrypt the files first! I took a look at them and there’s nothing! Nothing at all!!!”

“If it’s such a problem, then why don’t you fix it?” Natasha’s voice was dripping with disdain. “I did my job, it’s now time for you to do yours. If you knew that this is a problem, why haven’t you done anything about it?

“Because it’s not my job! I’m just a freaking consultant! I’m busy running a multi-billionaire dollar company! I’m trying to invent affordable, clean energy! Why would I be busy monitoring your actions to make sure you aren’t doing idiotic things like this!?”

Romanov was quiet for a second before speaking. The condescension in her voice made Tony want to rip his hair out. “You need to get over yourself Stark. The world doesn’t revolve around you. Now go and fix this ‘terrible’ problem you’re bitching about. I can’t believe your ego sometimes.” And she hung up the phone.

Tony had considered helping with the encryption of the files but it wasn’t worth it. By that point, it was too late. All of the files had been downloaded onto multiple private servers multiple times and it would take months to track them all down. Why encrypt something that people already had access to?

The President had asked him if he would be able to track down the files and possibly take them back, but Tony told him it would be a waste of time. By the time he found them all, whoever it was would’ve probably made paper copies or had already acted on the information. He did offer to have a part of his IT department work on a program that would track down who accessed what information so that the government could keep an eye on potential threats and possibly track down criminals. It would take at least a month for his department to finish the program and Tony promised to help with the program when he had the time. Both the President and IT department seemed happy (and possibly excited?) about the deal and lawyers from SI and the White House jumped right on contract negotiating. It was terrible what happened, but at least some of Tony’s employees were getting the chance to shine and getting the option of even more over time. Tony was also sure that the White House would try to scoop up some of his employees by the end of the project, but he’d deal with that when it came time to.

With that problem being taken care of, Tony turned towards the subcommittee being formed in order to figure out what the hell had happened in DC. The committee quickly called Tony in, figuring he knew what had happened. Instead, they were both shocked and furious to find out that he knew as much as they did. All he could tell them was that both SHIELD and HYDRA files were uploaded to the internet and that the files contained sensitive information relating to every first world country and even a few third world countries (HYDRA had tried to infiltrate Wakanda multiple times for some reason…).

Tony turned over any information had about Natasha, Steve, and whatever he could on some guy named Sam Wilson, and the committee had been pretty happy with that. It turned out that no one in the government actually knew anything about Natasha and Steve beyond what SHIELD had released to the press. The government did know about one Sam Wilson, who was a former pararescue airman who flown the EXO-7 Falcon wings until his partner Riley died in combat. Tony felt sympathy towards the man, it couldn’t be easy to lose a friend like that, but he couldn’t understand why he thought he had the right to steal and use the wings just because Captain America said so.

Speaking of Captain America, Tony was shocked when he was looking through the newly released SHIELD files and learned that Rogers wasn’t even a Captain! He hadn’t even completed a full-week of boot camp before being given the serum and sent on that PR tour. Eventually, the military got desperate and decided to use him (who wouldn’t want super-human strength on their side?). Rogers turned out to be a great tactician and a great leader off the field. It was once on the field that everything fell apart. Rogers apparently didn’t take well to change so whenever an unknown variable popped up and plans fell through, he wasn’t able to come up with legitimate contingency plans and instead either kept to the original plan, even if it wouldn’t work anymore or “wing” it. Apparently, the best results came from when he stuck to the original plan because at least his team knew what he was planning and were able to change things accordingly. No one ever called Rogers out on this fact, due to wanting to keep the message and idea of Captain America alive, and instead had his team secretly planning behind his back. James Barnes had been particularly adept at this due to his previous friendship with Rogers and soon became the liaison between the team and military leaders.

Once Rogers went down and he was believed dead, the military never released this information to the public, instead wanting the public to continue seeing Captain America in a positive light because his story and message had lead to increased enlistment. Instead, they had handed over all files to Peggy Carter who had eventually buried the files so deep on SHIELD’s servers that no one knew they were there or could find them. Once Rogers was found and unfrozen, the World Security Council had determined to have Rogers on their side was too important and decided not to bother with additional training, so not to offend him and make him believe they thought he was incompetent. They had also decided not to bother getting him any therapy or treatment for his obvious PTSD and displacement, and they didn’t encourage him to learn about and acclimate to the 21st century. They weren’t telling him not to, but they definitely didn’t go out of their way to encourage him.

After the Chitauri invasion, SHIELD felt comfortable in their position of power over the super soldier and agreed with the idea of him moving into his own apartment (and were happy to plant a spy right next door to him…) in order to form his own “independence” outside of SHIELD. Instead of adjusting to the new world he was in, Rogers instead choose to continue to live in the past. He chose an apartment in Brooklyn, where he grew up, and spent most of his time either running missions for SHIELD, training for future missions, or working on his art. He did surprise SHIELD when he signed up for a local library card without any prompting, but Rogers spent most of his time reading books about World War II, art, and surprisingly enough, modern sexuality. SHIELD had theorized that Rogers may have feelings for his friend James Barnes, but they had never been able to confirm it. Due to this possibility, SHIELD made sure to suppress any and all information they had on James Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, in hopes that they could one day use that information to manipulate Rogers. And Tony. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t expecting Rogers to drop all of their files on the internet. Including the files on the murders of Maria and Howard Stark.

Tony had to admit he saw red when JARVIS stumbled upon the files. He locked himself up for a few hours, pouring over any and all files he could find on the Winter Soldier, his kills, and his programming. Part of Tony just wanted to hunt Barnes down and gut him like a fish, he could never forgive him for killing his parents. For killing his mother. The other part of him? It couldn’t help but feel for Barnes and want to help him recover from the evils that HYDRA did to him. After contemplating the information for a day, Tony passed over the files to the government who in turn shared them with the United Nations. The Winter Soldier wasn't just a US threat, he was a global threat. The UN quickly assembled a team and within two days of receiving the information, Barnes had been found, brought in, and placed in a secure psychiatric facility. And that closed the chapter on one James Barnes. Tony would never have to see him and Barnes was hopefully going to recover from what HYDRA did to him. One day Barnes may go to trial over what occurred when he was determined to no longer be a threat, and Tony would have to deal with the trial being on the news, but that was the future.

The biggest issue that came from the Barnes situation was the fact that Rogers fucking knew about everything. He knew that Barnes had murdered his parents and hadn’t even bothered to tell Tony! JARVIS had found the video surveillance of Romanoff giving Rogers a file filled with information about the Winter Soldier, the same one Tony had! So when Rogers attempted to break into SI with Barton, Tony was ready for the confrontation. Except for Rogers destroying part of his original cell. He hadn’t realized how quick to violence the man was until everything went down.

***PAST***

Rogers hadn't even been awake for a whole minute before he was at the front of his cell, smashing the glass with his fists, yelling to be let out. Tony had to run down to the cell block to stop him before he broke anything.

“Hey! Rogers! Stop that!” Tony yelled, screeching to a halt in front of the cell. He quickly glanced at Barton’s cell and was happy to see that he was still passed out. Roger’s body must’ve metabolized the drugs much faster than the normal human and that was why he was awake hours earlier than he should’ve been. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Tony?” Rogers asked, dropping his hands down. “What’s going on? Why am I locked up? Was there an attack?” Rogers' eyes flitted around as if expecting enemies to suddenly jump out of nowhere.

“You’re in a cell in SI tower. You and Barton attempted to break into the building and attacked my best receptionist and my security detail when they stopped you.” Tony said, rubbing a hand over his face. He still couldn’t believe how quickly they were able to stop them without anyone being severely injured. Barton had been taken down before he had harmed anyone, and Rogers had only gotten one punch in before the Sonic Tasers finally paralyzed him (it had taken longer than it normally does for a baseline human). The security officer would be okay and thankfully only obtained two broken ribs. Tony had paid for his hospital bills and given him a month of paid leave. He deserved it after standing up against a super soldier.

“Attacked them? What are you talking about Tony!?!? That secretary refused to let us in, then insulted Clint, and then attacked us! We were forced to retaliate when she then sent your security detail after us. You need to hire better employees, Tony.” Rogers said, giving Tony his “Captain America is disappointed in you” look.

Tony was shocked at Rogers words. Did he really think that’s how it went down? “Jarvis, play the security footage please.”

Jarvis projected surveillance footage of what went down in the lobby onto one of the walls of the cell. Rogers watched the video and then turned to face Tony. “Okay, Clint did overreact at that secretary’s words. But she shouldn’t have tried to guilt Clint about what happened. That was wrong of her!”

“She didn’t do anything!” Tony yelled. “And she’s not ‘that secretary’, her name is Ashley. She was just doing her job by protecting Stark Industries. Barton had no right to lunge at her and threaten her like that. I’m sorry she disregarded his feelings and upset him, but her job is to control the lobby and prevent possible threats from coming in. I don’t pay her to do feelings.”

Rogers’ scowl deepened at Tony’s words. “Tony, feelings are important. You can’t ignore them all the time. I know you want to, but other people don’t feel that way. It’s very selfish of you to do that.”

Tony was flabbergasted. “How is it selfish of me to request my receptionist to ignore feelings when making sure people don’t break in and destroy a multi-billionaire dollar company? If I told her to listen to and believe every sob story she heard, thieves and the competition would’ve destroyed this company years ago!”

“I’m so disappointed in you, Tony. Howard would NEVER approve of how you’re approaching emotions in your company. Howard actually CARED about his employees and others. You obviously don’t.” Steve said, upping his ‘Captain America is Disappointed in You’ face. Tony couldn't believe the nerve of him! How dare he?!

“First of all, I DO care about my employees. That’s why I’m so furious at you and Barton! You guys are so convinced that you can’t be wrong that you were willing to harm my employees. You are a supersoldier and Barton is a secret agent! You could’ve easily killed them!” Tony yelled, resisting the urge to simultaneously rip his hair out and punch Rogers in the teeth. “Second, you have no right to talk about my father and how ‘important’ feelings are. If you actually cared about either of those things, you would’ve told me about your dear old Bucky murdering him and my mother.”

Rogers froze at Tony’s words. A look of shock and horror spread across Rogers’ face before it quickly disappeared. “Bucky didn’t do it! It wasn’t his fault!”

The anger inside of Tony just grew at the words. “I’m pretty sure it was his hands wrapped around my mother’s neck and his hand that beat in my father’s face.”

“HYDRA made him do it! He didn’t want to! He’s innocent!” Rogers yelled, banging his hand against the glass. The whole wall shook at the impact.

“Just because HYDRA forced him to, doesn’t mean he didn’t do it. Why would you hide this? It’s a crime to cover up _other_ crimes. If you had brought it to the attention of the PROPER authorities, they could’ve helped find your friend and get him help for the obvious mental distress he went through. They could’ve helped bring HYDRA’s crimes to light and help get justice for the Winter Soldier’s other victims.” Tony said, waving his arm angrily. Was Rogers’ an idiot or something? Did he not understand that he was going to make things worse for Barnes?

“Because they would’ve killed him! And covered it up! No one would care. They just want to blame him for everything. Bucky can’t fight back, I gotta fight for him.” Rogers snarled angrily.

“If that was the case, then why did the UN find him, bring him in peacefully, and set him up in a secure psychiatric facility? Why are they willing to help him pay for his much-needed therapy? Why are they hiring professionals all over the globe to help rid him of HYDRA’s programming?” Tony asked. A picture of Barnes in the facility was projected onto Rogers’ cell wall. Tony had thought that would help him calm down, but it did the complete opposite.

“Let me out here! I need to get Bucky! I will NOT let you kill him! It wasn’t his fault!” Rogers screamed, throwing himself at the glass again. He was like a wild animal with how brutal his attacks were on the glass.

“Sedate him, Jarvis, before he hurts himself or destroys the cell any more than he already has,” Tony said, stepping even further away from the cell. He was honestly worried that if Rogers got loose, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Tony for his supposed slight against Barnes.

Tony watched both with fear and fascination as Rogers was sedated. It took almost 30 seconds, 3 times longer than a baseline human, for the gas to knock out Rogers. In that 30 seconds, Rogers had put huge holes and cracks in the glass wall and had destroyed all the furniture in the cell by throwing them against the wall. If it had taken the gas any longer, Rogers probably would’ve been able to get at least half of the wall down.

“It took him about two hours to metabolize the drugs Happy gave him, so it’ll probably take him about the same, maybe less to metabolize the knockout gas. Make sure to release some into his cell every 1 ½ hours, just to be safe and keep him knocked out. At least until I reinforce a new cell for him.” Tony said, looking at the damage Rogers did. It was crazy that he was able to do as much damage as he did. Imagine what he would do to a human.

After getting some of his security detail set up in front of the cell (it was better to be safe than sorry), Tony left to get started on building that cell. A normal prison would never be able to hold Rogers with his superhuman strength. Maybe if he was able to create something that could suppress his strength….

***PRESENT***

“Tony, what are you doing? You’re supposed to be resting!”

Tony was so lost in the memory that he was surprised when he looked up and found Pepper glaring at him, arms crossed and her foot tapping impatiently.

“I am resting! I’ve been sitting in this chair for the past two hours. I haven’t done any heavy lifting, just paperwork. Cross my heart!” Tony said, throwing on an innocent smile and making an X over his heart.

“I think that might be why your PA called me in a panic, assuming that you may have finally achieved world domination.” Pepper said smirking. She walked over to Tony’s desk and her smirk quickly turned into a scowl when she saw the files on his desk. “Tony, why do you have Rogers’ files out? He’s no longer your concern. Actually, he was never your concern.”

“He kinda became my concern when he decided to break into my company’s building. He also became my concern when he decided to hide my parent’s murder from me.” Tony felt a pang of sadness and anger at the reminder.

“What Rogers did will NEVER be okay and he definitely deserves to be punished. But you shouldn’t feel obligated to do all the work for his case. Especially since everything is already taken care of.” Pepper said scooping up the files while also wagging a finger at him.

Rogers’ trial had been both an interesting and horrifying event. The public had learned the truth of Rogers’ “military-career”, his instability in the 21st century, the lack of care he had for the agents and families he harmed both for SHIELD and in the info dump, how he lived off of SHIELD’s money before using Tony’s money to pay for everything, and about how he hid the Starks’ murders. Tony had never felt so bad for a lawyer until this case. It was easy to see that this case was doomed from the start and the approach the court-appointed attorney (unsurprisingly, Rogers couldn’t afford a lawyer…) took was to try either convince Rogers’ to take a plea deal or at least stay quiet so that he could get a shorter sentence. Unfortunately for the attorney, Rogers’ didn’t seem to understand the severity of the situation and kept losing control in the courtroom and didn’t seem capable of keeping his mouth shut. He was held in contempt on multiple occasions and was able to add new assault charges to his long list of crimes. Thankfully, Tony had been able to develop bracelets that were able to negate Rogers’ super strength, making him a baseline human during the trial and no one was severely injured in the brawls that occurred when Rogers didn’t agree with a witness or with the judge ordering him to sit down and shut up. It only got worse when Rogers went against his attorney’s advice and spoke on the stand in his own defense.

If the public didn’t hate him before this, they definitely did afterward. Hearing his arrogance and complete lack of concern for others had angered the public and it only got once when Rogers started spouting Barnes' innocence in everything. Mobs quickly swarmed the courthouse and museum where the Captain America exhibit was located. The exhibit was taken down within hours of the mob’s arrival and the mob outside of the courthouse had calmed down quickly once they learned that Rogers would receive his sentence within the next day.

Rogers had looked so sure of himself when the jury left for deliberation. It seemed like he didn’t have any understanding of the situation or the fact that very few people on the planet actually still liked him. The jury was gone for less than 10 minutes before they were back. Rogers had looked concerned for a moment before wiping the look off of his face and putting on a smile. Maybe he thought that the jury had determined that his crimes were okay because he was Captain America, or maybe he thought that he didn’t do anything wrong. Tony couldn’t be sure. But he couldn’t help but laugh out loud when the jury announced they found Rogers guilty of all crimes he was accused of. The expression became even worse when the judge announced that they were expediting the sentencing process, due to the dangers surrounding the case, and announced that Rogers was sentenced for 40 years. Rogers seemed to be in a state of shock when he was dragged out of the courtroom by security, stumbling the whole way.

The only surprising thing about the trial to Tony was the fact that Rogers’ was able to access his money. It was fun to learn that SHIELD actually had access to Stark bank accounts due to dear old dad’s connection to the organization and Peggy Carter. It was officially off the books both at SI and SHIELD, due to their fear of it being discovered. All agents of high importance (Rogers, Romanova, Barton, and many others) had access to a card that accessed SHIELD funding and another that accessed Stark funding, in case of emergency. After SHIELD fell, Rogers had switched to the other card and had racked up thousands of dollars in bills, both personal and relating to finding James Barnes. No one was sure if Rogers actually understood what the other card was doing, but he was also charged with fraud due to these purchases.

Tony quickly found and fired the individuals in his financial department responsible for hiding these EXTREMELY illegal transactions. They turned out to be SHIELD spies (surprise, surprise!) and were using these same tactics to help with the rebuilding of SHIELD. Once these facts became public knowledge, the new branch was quickly shut down by the US government and all employees involved in anything suspicious, illegal, or both were arrested.

Rogers was sent to the Raft, a new prison facility specifically designed by the United Nations for high profile criminals and individuals with enhancements or powers. He would never be able to escape with all of the security protocols put in place. It also helped that it was determined that Rogers would continue to wear the cuffs Tony designed in case he ever tried to escape or harm anyone at the facility.

During his time at the facility, Rogers would receive counseling for his PTSD and would also receive lessons on world history, modern US history, and how to live in the 21st Century. He would also be forced to learn about what happened after the DC Incident and Data Dump. What happened to the governments, agents, and families who were impacted by everything that occurred. This was in hopes of Rogers realizing his errors and learning from them. The UN was hoping that once Rogers was up to date and was healed mentally, he would be of some use to the world under the Accords. If he was shown to be stable and no longer a threat, they were hoping he could work off some of his sentence. To be honest,y the UN was hoping they could use Rogers so they wouldn’t have to pay to imprison him for too long. Rogers definitely deserved prison time and needed to learn his lesson, but no one wanted to waste millions on feeding and housing him without receiving anything in return because of his stupidity and arrogance.

The Accords, or officially the Avengers Accords, were currently in the works and were supported by basically every country. The accords were to be guidelines for enhanced or unique individuals who wished to help the world, aka. be superheroes. The goal was to prevent any future disasters like the DC Incident and Data Dump from occurring while also respecting the rights of both the enhanced and countries involved. With how common advanced individuals were becoming, the UN wanted to get ahead of the curb and make sure no one was able to abuse their powers and harm any of the enhanced. The UN was also hoping to be prepared for any future alien encounters after the Chitauri Invasion. SHIELD had refused to share any information about Asgard or the Chitauri with the outside world, so no country knew anything about extraterrestrial life or was prepared for any possible invasions in the future. SHIELD seemed to believe that the invasion was the end of it and that there wasn’t anything to be worried about (Tony was furious to learn that they hadn’t taken his warnings seriously….). The UN obviously felt differently and they wanted to be prepared for anything, even if nothing ever happened. Better to be safe than sorry. The Avengers Accords were looking promising and it would take years of hard work before they anywhere close to “perfect”, but it was a start.

All in all, everything had gone smoothly with Rogers’ arrest, trial, and sentencing. Within a month, Rogers was taken care off and everyone moved on. It was quite impressive, considering how much the public liked to scrutinize situations and point out how things could’ve been done differently or better. Tony kept looking over Rogers’ files, worried that maybe they overlooked something, but every time he looked, everything looked wonderful and he couldn’t find a problem. As much as hated to admit Pepper was right, she was right when she said everything was taken care off

“I know it’s in your DNA to worry Tony, but don’t. Or don’t worry as much as you usually do. If anything happens, there are plenty of people and countries to help with the situation.” Pepper said, smiling softly and laying a hand on Tony’s soldier. “Rogers will never see outside of a cell for at least a few years. And even if he is eligible to work for the Accords, the only time he will be let out is for missions. It’ll be years before anyone would even consider allowing him to live outside of the Raft facility. He is person non grata at this point and is basically hated by everyone on the planet. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if some politician attempted to make him go missing. I know that Ross is frothing at the mouth at the idea of accessing his blood to recreate the super soldier serum.”

Tony tried to feel sympathy for the disgraced super soldier, he really did, but remembering the sour and horrified look on Rogers' face when the guilty verdict was read would forever be one of Tony’s favorite memories. Rogers had fallen for his own legend and now it was biting him in the ass. Tony wasn’t going to feel bad about that. He was going to make sure Ross or some other lunatic didn’t grab him though. Who knew what they would try to do with superhuman blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PROMPT: I actually had a story idea about what would have happened if Tony had decided not to save anybody when the spider and Rogers decide to do that info dump. It was basically him feeling like well why should I help you guys out when Killian was blowing at my house none of you guys had my back. and when hell went to him for a job he kindly reminded her about the folder that said, Iron Man, yes Tony Stark, No and him telling her that that means that Tony Stark won't be hiring or helping anyone from Shield AKA Hydra. I made it so Colson got to Clint's family in time but Laura did get injured though and yes Clint did try to blame Tony to which Tony kindly reminded Clint that Natasha and Rogers, not him dumped all of Shield's information on the world wide web and if he had issues that he needs to take it up with his so-called friends. you think you can make my jumbled thoughts into a decent story?


	6. Clint

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is chapter 6! I hope y'all enjoy it. It is about Clint and the consequences he will have to face. I'm not completely happy with this chapter, so I may come back later and fix it. If I do so, I'll make sure to let you all know.
> 
> Thanks again for all of the love this story has received. Y'all are absolutely amazing!!!
> 
> Please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments below. :)

**Tony's PoV**

“How’s Barton doing?” Pepper asked, after packing up Rogers' files.

“He seems to be doing alright. He’s currently volunteering in the afternoons as an archery teacher for a program for at-risk youths and spends his morning at the local soup kitchen. He alternates what he does in between. He’s also hasn’t missed a therapy session. It seems like he’s settling right back in.”

“And how is his therapy going? Does it seem like he’s making progress? Or will he have another meltdown and try to kill someone?” Pepper asked, her anger barely concealed.

“Pepper,” Tony sighed. “It wasn’t his fault. And he didn’t actually succeed in killing Ashley or I, so we’re fine. Ashley seems to be loving the fallout that occurred on her end. Did you not see her latest Facebook post?” After the whole incident in the SI lobby, Tony gave her the receptionist a 10% raise for being a badass (Stupid Pepper wouldn’t let him write that on the official paperwork though…) and sent her on a 2 week vacation with her wife and kids. She deserved it after standing up to two Avengers (who could’ve killed her!) and kicking their asses.

“I’m glad you’re both fine, but the whole situation was ridiculous! I still don’t understand how the human brain was able to connect Rogers and Romanova’s stupidity to you and decide it was your fault for everyone.” Pepper grumbled, sitting back and pouting in her chair. “It wasn’t your fault the data dump happened. You had no obligation to help them or fix their problem.”

“I know that Pepper, and Barton now knows it as well now that his brain is starting to work again. Besides, aren’t you proud of me for telling him off like I did?” Tony asked, throwing his best puppy dog eyes at her.

“I am! The look on his face was hilarious and will forever be my screensaver.” Pepper said, smirking and waving her phone around. Tony loved how petty Pepper was at times. “I do have one question though. Why didn’t you just remind him that you weren’t healthy enough to be able to help them anyway? You were still recovering from having the arc reactor removed, which is major surgery. You were on medical leave.” Pepper asked, an angry frown on her face at the memory of Tony’s surgery.

“It wouldn’t have helped anything. He was irrational and probably would’ve said I had surgery on purpose just to spite him.” Tony said, pulling out Barton’s files from a desk drawer. Pepper threw (another) glare at him. “At least we know why he was so angry and why this was all apparently logical for him.”

After sedating Barton, a mental health professional was called in to evaluate his mental state. According to Barton’s SHIELD’s files, he was the best of the best. Until Loki happened. Since the Chitauri invasion, Barton had dropped in standing and was given less high-profile missions. Barton had started to display more and more aggressive behaviors with each passing mission. Instead of just taking out his targets, he was soon attacking and beating them. Most of his targets came in with broken bones and severe lacerations. He had actually succeeded in killing his last target, after breaking 3 of his ribs. One of the ribs had pierced his lungs and the target drowned in his own blood. Barton had been placed on leave, but he had been led to believe that it was a short vacation to spend more time with his family.

It was quickly revealed that Barton had never received counseling or any kind of assistance after the invasion and was instead put on a month’s leave in order to “recuperate”. After the month was over, Barton was sent right back in and that was that. SHIELD never bothered to check back in with Barton.

The psychologist brought in found that Barton displayed signs of PTSD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and the beginnings of psychosis. Even with these diagnoses, Barton’s behavior didn’t quite match up and both the initial psychologist and the following two were confused about why Barton was becoming increasingly erratic. Tony had a pit in stomach and couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was going on, not just something mental. Tony called a few of his connections and soon had a sorcerer (he still refused to believe that magic had no scientific basis) from Kamar Taj. Not even two minutes into his evaluation, the sorcerer had turned pale and left. Everyone was confused and it only got worse once the sorcerer returned with the Sorcerer Supreme of all people.

It turned out that Loki’s influence, or what was actually the Mind Stone’s influence, hadn’t completely left him. It also turned out that SHIELD had lost possession of Loki’s sceptre (when were they going to tell anyone?) and HYDRA (which was SHIELD, so did it count as losing it?) was performing experiments with said sceptre. Each experiment on the sceptre caused the Mind Stone to react and caused more damage to Barton’s brain. Eventually, HYDRA’s experiments were eventually successful and succeeded in giving people powers. Two recruits, twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, had willingly volunteered (who does that?) and to dumb it down, received the powers of super speed (the guy), telekinesis and mental manipulation (the girl). It wasn’t that surprising when they found out that the Witch was mentally unstable (shocking!) and through the powers she received from the stone and her inability to control them, she was influencing Barton’s mind and behavior. Every time she was angry, Barton was angry. Everytime she tried to shove down the anger, she instead funneled it into Barton. And because of her irrational hate for Tony, Barton’s hatred for him grew as well.

Thankfully, they were able to access all of the files HYDRA had on the twins and experiments conducted, and they were able to correlate them with when Barton’s anger or sporadic behavior occurred. When Barton had decided to storm SI, it turned out that the twins were training and had also been ranting and raving about how they desired revenge on Tony killing their parents. Which he obviously didn't do, the whole world knew that Stark bombs were the most effective so it wouldn't make sense for one to trap the Maximoffs and not explode. It was most likely a knock off or one of the bombs Obie sold on the black market. The ones that had been marked as ineffective. HYDRA had made this connection as well but the twins’ anger and thirst for revenge was such a great motivator, their handlers decided to encourage and fuel it in order to keep them willing to do their dirty work. Which unfortunately made things worse for Barton.

Once the connection between Barton, the mind stone, and the witch was made and confirmed, the Sorcerer Supreme set up a block in his mind to prevent them from influencing him anymore. Once this block occurred, Barton’s behavior did become much more rational and he seemed more open and willing to accept the help he was offered. Of course, Barton still had to recover from the trauma he received from Loki and it would take years for him to recover from his now exacerbated anger issues, but he was definitely on his way to recovery.

Once all of this evidence had been presented to the DA, the DA offered him a deal. Five years of community service, a tracking anklet, and a letter of apology to Ashley, Happy, and the rest of the security detail he had attempted to attack. He also had to attend daily court-mandated anger management and therapy. If Barton refused or tried to get out of this in the future, it would be straight to prison. His therapists were also required to write and submit weekly reports on his progress so if he started to relapse, the socerers would know if the mental shields and blocks needed strengthening, or if Barton required more intense treatment. This was all a much better deal than anyone had been expecting. No one knew how this kind of mind manipulation would hold up in court. It was one thing for someone to be under complete mind control like what happened with Loki. It was something else entirely for someone to be manipulated and influenced mentally. Especially when that other person doing the manipulating was across the globe.

Barton had gladly accepted the deal, excited to not be taken away from his family. From his therapists' reports, it seemed like he was feeling guilty enough for abandoning them the way he had. The guilt became ten times worse once he remembered that his wife and children had only been home from the hospital for two weeks when everything occurred.

Tony couldn't help but feel sympathy for their situation. It wasn’t Barton’s fault that all of this happened, at least not completely. No one could really be sure how much of it was Barton because of the stone and witch. From what the sorcerers could see, it looked like they latched onto some of the anger Barton already had and built on it. It hurt a little to know that Barton didn’t like him and hated him a little before this even happened, considering he barely even knew him, but it made sense. Barton only knew his reputation and Romanova’s bullshit report on him.

So Tony wasn’t going to blame Barton for everything that happened. He was instead going to focus on the real villains: HYDRA, the sceptre, the witch, and the stupidity of Rogers and Romanova. And if he threw a little money towards the Bartons and the other innocent victims in this mess to help pay for everyone’s much needed therapy, no one had to know. It was just mixed in with the money that was already raised on the various online fundraisers that were started after the DC Incident. Tony may hate and never trust SHIELD ever again and would be happy to stand back and watch them burn (again), but he wasn’t going to punish the families for what occurred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PROMPT: I actually had a story idea about what would have happened if Tony had decided not to save anybody when the spider and Rogers decide to do that info dump. It was basically him feeling like well why should I help you guys out when Killian was blowing at my house none of you guys had my back. and when hell went to him for a job he kindly reminded her about the folder that said, Iron Man, yes Tony Stark, No and him telling her that that means that Tony Stark won't be hiring or helping anyone from Shield AKA Hydra. I made it so Colson got to Clint's family in time but Laura did get injured though and yes Clint did try to blame Tony to which Tony kindly reminded Clint that Natasha and Rogers, not him dumped all of Shield's information on the world wide web and if he had issues that he needs to take it up with his so-called friends. you think you can make my jumbled thoughts into a decent story?


	7. The Raft

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter. Whoot! Sorry for the wait, life was kicking my ass again. School and work have been crazy and eating up all of my free time. Things have slowed down though, so I will have more writing time again. Yay! Also, due to that craziness, I have had barely any time to respond to comments. Sorry!!! I promise that I have read them all and truly appreciate them.
> 
> This chapter deals with Steve and the consequences he's now facing, aka his prison sentence. I found this chapter really satisfying to write, so hopefully y'all find it satisfying to read.
> 
> I have at least one more chapter planned for this story, regarding how Clint's handling his own consequences. I should have that up within the next week.
> 
> As always, thanks so much for reading and please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments below! :)

**Steve's PoV**

Steve scowled as he was led down the hall to where his therapy was being held. He hated everything at this place, especially therapy. Steve was sane, thank you very much. He didn’t need some shrink over analyzing everything about him and decide he needed electro-shock therapy to “fix” things. He knew that the UN was just looking for a reason to harm him, that damn corrupt government. And he knew that Tony was helping them as well, how else would they be able to afford a facility like this?

Steve had been locked up in the UN “Raft” facility for the last 3 months and every second of being trapped in here was terrible. He hated that he was being made out to be a villian. He was Captain America, a HERO, and he was locked up with some of the craziest and most evil villains on the damn planet! He was also locked away with some of the best people the 21st Century had to offer. Steve had been shocked to learn that Phil Coulson and Nick Fury were both still alive and were arrested as well. He had yet to see them, even though he been asking for months, so he hoped the two were okay.

Steve froze when he entered the therapy room before a huge grin spread across his face.

“Sam?!” Steve asked, both shocked and happy to see a familiar face. “What are you doing here?”

This was the first session of group therapy the facility shrinks were attempting. They were hoping that hearing and sharing each other’s stories would give them perspective on their own lives and supposed crimes. It was supposed to help with healing or whatever bullshit they were thinking about. And apparently, Sam was in the facility (why hadn’t he heard about that?) and was required to be there as well.

“I was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with a possibility of parole in 15, due to my involvement in the DC Incident and Data Dump,” Sam said, scowling at Steve. The government and Tony (he knew he was involved somehow!) were now going after innocent people like Sam? It was bad enough that they succeeded in capturing and containing Steve, but this was something he had never even imagined happening in his wildest dreams.

“They arrested you as well??? I can’t believe the nerve of them! Do you need me to talk to someone and get you help? You don’t deserve to be locked up in here!” Steve said angrily, balling up his fists. If Tony hadn’t created those damn cuffs, he’d be able to fight his way out of this place in order to help Sam.

“Steve, did you honestly think I wouldn’t get punished for what I helped you do in DC?” Sam asked, looking genuinely confused.

“Of course not! You helped save the day and did the correct thing. We saved lives!” Steve exclaimed. He couldn’t believe that Sam didn’t realize that.

“Steve, we killed people. We dropped helicarriers on top of innocent people. We also leaked important information all over the internet and people died because of it. People died due to our careless actions.” Steve couldn’t believe that Sam didn’t realize how important his assistance was to their fight against HYDRA. In their fight against evil.

“Steve, we killed and injured more people than HYDRA would’ve done on their own. If we had reached out for outside assistance, lives would’ve been saved. By dropping Helicarriers on top of Washington D.C., we killed and injured hundreds, if not thousands of innocent people.”

“We killed HYDRA!” Steve exclaimed. Did Sam forget about who they had fought? “Everyone on the helicarriers were HYDRA agents. As much as I hate killing, we can’t feel bad about killing agents of evil.”

“Steve,” Sam said slowly, looking concerned. “What about the people in the city? The people walking underneath the helicarriers?”

Steve froze at Sam’s words. “What are you talking about? What people?”

“The civilians who were walking around DC at the time. The helicarriers actually fell on top of some people. The impact of their fall also caused nearby buildings to collapse and basically caused a mini-earthquake in the area. People’s lives were destroyed because we dropped those helicarriers without alerting the authorities so they could initiate an emergency evacuation of the area.” Sam said, looking pained at the memory of their actions.

Steve was flabbergasted at Sam’s words. He hadn’t even thought about what the helicarriers would do to the area beneath and surrounding the helicarriers. He had been so focused on what was going on inside the helicarriers, he forgot about everything else. “Sam, I- I didn’t even realize that had happened. How did you learn about this?”

Sam gave Steve yet another incredulous look. “Steve, I’m taking some of the same courses as you and am talking to the same people about the DC Incident and Data Dump. I’ve been doing this since I was sentenced over 3 months ago. I learned all of this and more during that time. You should’ve learned about it all as well.”

Steve hated the damn courses he had to take and the people he had to talk to with a burning passion. They all seemed like a waste of time and were just trying to make Steve out to be the bad guy. Maybe he should have actually been paying attention these past few months….

“If you’re doing the same thing as me, why haven’t I seen you before today?” Steve asked. Why would they keep them separated? Didn’t the prison officials realize it would be better for the two of them to be together?

“I requested not to.” Sam said. Steve couldn’t prevent the small stab of pain he felt at Sam’s words. He didn’t want to be around Steve? “After everything that went down, I realized that I had a blind spot during the DC Incident, and that spot is you. I forgot all common sense and all of my military training because you, the great Captain America, were involved and requesting assistance. If I wanted to actually learn anything from this prison sentence and actually repent for my crimes, I knew that I couldn’t be around you. At least not at the beginning. I didn’t want to be willfully ignorant again.”

Steve couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was Sam blaming Steve for everything? Did he actually think it was his fault that everything apparently went so wrong? Steve didn't mean for that! For anything of this!

“Steve, if you weren’t paying attention when it came to the DC Incident, does that mean you weren’t paying attention to anything about the SHIELD/HYDRA Data Dump?” Sam asked, looking even more concerned than he already did. Did Steve miss something else?

“I- uh, I really didn’t want to listen then either. I know what happened, what else could they possibly teach me about the situation?”

Sam sent a glare Steve’s way at his words. “Steve, both HYDRA and SHIELD files made it online. I’m sure you know that. But do you know or even realize that means we exposed both a terrorist organization and a secret agency? Every single thing SHIELD had on their servers made it online. SHIELD has made a lot of enemies over the years and as soon as the files made it online, they were all over it and had downloaded the files. Thousands of agents and their families died and were injured because of the Data Dump. Thousands of individuals who weren’t even agents were harmed and killed as well.”

“What do you mean?” Steve could feel the pit in his stomach growing.

“Everyone who had anything to do with SHIELD was, and continues to be, a target. Cooks, Janitors, IT, anyone you can think of now has a huge target on their back because of what we did. Those people didn’t agree to be in life or death situations like agents did. But we forced them to be in one anyway.”

Steve didn’t think anyone would care about those people. The agents and those in power were the only ones Steve ever thought about. He assumed the rest of the world thought the same way.

“If you can’t understand that, just think about what happened to Barton and his family. Hell, think about what happened to Romanova!”

“Who’s Romanova?” Steve asked, feeling even more confused. Who was this person and why had he never heard of them?

“That’s Natasha Romanov’s real name. Natalia Romanova. You didn’t know that?” Sam asked, looking concerned again.

“I didn’t know that Natasha wasn’t her real name. She never said anything about that.” Steve couldn’t believe Natasha, a TEAMMATE, had hidden something like that from him.

“It’s been all over the news Steve, I can’t believe you missed that. Part of our punishment stipulates that we are allowed time to watch the news and read various global newspapers. So that we can stay up to date and not live in a bubble like we have. Have you not been doing that either?”

Steve didn’t even bother answering. They both knew he hadn’t. It just didn’t seem like it was important for Steve to be up to date on current events. How were they supposed to help with the situation he was currently in?

“Well since you haven’t bothered to learn yourself, I’ll fill you in. After the subcommittee interrogated her, Romanova disappeared and went underground. All of her information was made public and we all learned about what she was like when she worked for the Soviet Union and for SHIELD. She wasn’t a good person. She had killed and harmed hundreds of people during her time working for the Soviets. She killed and harmed even more during her time with SHIELD. She wasn’t scooped up by SHIELD because she had the potential to be a better person, it’s because she helped their agenda. She took out targets with ease and was a skilled manipulator. SHIELD was excited about the prospect of having her under their control. SHIELD was so excited to have her, that they actually brought her into the country illegally and stole the Soviet’s files on her, so they couldn’t get her back. She technically doesn’t exist.

“Unfortunately for SHIELD, Romanova had a strong sense of self-preservation and valued herself over anyone else. So instead of going against your idea of dumping the data online, she went with it, figuring she’d end up on top and get rid of her many enemies within SHIELD all in go. Fortunately for her enemies, she got cocky and she was found less than a month ago by some burned agents. No one knows who did it, just that authorities were only able to identify her body because of the chip SHIELD had implemented in her shoulder.”

Steve was shocked. Natasha was dead? How could that happen? She was the Black Widow! “Why would they kill her? I know she made mistakes, but she was trying to right her wrongs! She was trying to clear the red in her ledger!” Steve couldn’t understand why Natasha would be killed for trying to do the right thing.

Sam gave Steve a look he couldn’t identify before sighing and shaking his head. “I can’t do this anymore. You're purposely being ignorant and are completely ignoring what I’m saying. It’s making me want to throttle you. And I don’t want another murder charge added to my list of crimes.” Sam got up and started to walk away.

“Where are you going?!” Steve asked scrambling to grab Sam’s arm and stop him from leaving. He couldn’t lose his friend, what else and who else did he have in this terrible place?

“I’m leaving Steve, now please let go of my arm before the guards are forced to restrain you.” Steve was surprised to see that everyone in the room was watching them and that the guards were all on alert. He quickly let go of Sam’s arm, not wanting to cause any problems for Sam.

Sam turned around to face Steve. “You made your bed Steve, now you gotta lay in it. You have to accept that you were wrong and that your mistakes were fatal. You have to put in the effort to learn the truth and stop living in your own little world. People died and were hurt because of your arrogance and inability to see anything but what you wanted to see. I’m already realizing and understanding that I had a hand in this whole mess as well. I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it. Trying to right my wrongs. It may not be possible, but I’m going to try anyway. You gotta do the same. Goodbye Steve.” And with those final words, Sam walked away. With a whispered conversation with the lead therapist and guard, who glanced Steve’s way, Sam was escorted out of the room.

“Alright everyone, it looks like we’ll have one less person joining us today.” The therapist said, smilinf and sitting down in the circle with everyone.” That’s alright, that means we’ll have more time for those who are here. Now, let’s all introduce ourselves. Say your name, age, and favorite book. Hopefully, we can all find some common ground.”

Steve tried to pay attention to what was going on, he really did, but Sam’s words kept swirling around and repeating in his head. And soon all Steve could think about was who he had apparently hurt and killed. Had he really messed up so terribly? Was he actually as bad and evil as Sam made him out to be? Had he actually become the evil he was trying to fight?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PROMPT: I actually had a story idea about what would have happened if Tony had decided not to save anybody when the spider and Rogers decide to do that info dump. It was basically him feeling like well why should I help you guys out when Killian was blowing at my house none of you guys had my back. and when hell went to him for a job he kindly reminded her about the folder that said, Iron Man, yes Tony Stark, No and him telling her that that means that Tony Stark won't be hiring or helping anyone from Shield AKA Hydra. I made it so Colson got to Clint's family in time but Laura did get injured though and yes Clint did try to blame Tony to which Tony kindly reminded Clint that Natasha and Rogers, not him dumped all of Shield's information on the world wide web and if he had issues that he needs to take it up with his so-called friends. you think you can make my jumbled thoughts into a decent story?


	8. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> This is the final chapter! I can't believe I made it this far with this story. What started off as a one-shot turned into an 8 chapter fic. I know it's not that long compared to other stories, but I definitely wasn't expecting this to have over 18,000 words.
> 
> This chapter is about Clint and how he's handling the consequences of his actions. The chapter is a little choppy at times because there are various scenes and scenarios regarding how Clint and Laura are doing. Some are shorter than others, but I thought these snippets were all important to their recovery. Also, sorry that this chapter took so long to post. The last part took forever to write for some reason. I blame Steve for it "-.-

**Clint's PoV**

**_Therapy Session_ **

“So how was your week? How are you doing?” Clint’s therapist asked, looking at him from across the room, the camera videotaping their session blinking menacingly next to her.

Clint let out a sigh at the question. What should've been an easy question always ended up being a hard one.

The anger and various psychological issues he possessed honestly came in waves. Some days, he was completely fine. He felt on top of the world and was able to appreciate everything life. Other days, everything sucked and he just wanted to scream and rant while destroying everything in his path.

It wouldn’t have been a problem if it’d been just him. He could yell and swear all he wanted and destroy anything in his path if he was living on his own. But he wasn’t. He was living a traumatized wife and two traumatized children. He had to keep his cool, he couldn’t blow up on them whenever he was a little angry or upset. He had to keep it in and be better for them.

Even though he had this mindset, the anger did slip through at times. Yelling at his kids for not doing their chores _just_ right, reaming out his son for not doing better on his spelling, and blaming both his wife and daughter whenever she had another nightmare and needed snuggles with Laura, even though it was 2 in the morning. Clint was getting better, he knew that the kids knew that, and Laura did that. But every incident that occurred, no matter how big or small, reminded the whole family of the man he was becoming before the block had been placed in his mind. It reminded them of the fear they started to feel whenever he became furious and threw something, the fear they felt when he got into their space. Clint still couldn’t believe he had acted that and would _never_ forgive himself for it. He had to keep trying. For them.

“Clint?” His therapist asked worriedly when he didn’t respond after a minute.

Clint let out a sigh. “I’m doing alright, but I want to be doing better. It’s just- the anger can still be overwhelming at times and chores around the house aren’t working as a way to channel it anymore. Do you have any recommendations of what I would be allowed to do for it? I know I’m not allowed to actually have a bow at the shooting range, I don’t trust myself with one either, but that used to be my coping method. What should I do instead?” Clint asked, desperately hoping she would have a recommendation. He had to come up with something, he couldn’t risk the chance of harming his family. He hadn’t done so yet, but he had come _dangerously_ close to doing so at previous times.

“I would recommend meditation, yoga, and exercise, maybe running. Instead of focusing on a task you have to complete like you do with chores, these activities will instead have you focusing on yourself. You’ll instead be acknowledging the anger inside of you and will get an understanding of how you’re feeling, and that will hopefully help you develop future strategies to help control and push down those feelings.”

Clint was quiet for a moment as he thought about her suggestions. He wasn’t sure they would work, but he definitely willing to give anything a shot at this point. But if they didn’t work, what was he supposed to do?

The therapist threw a kind smile his way, seeming to realize where his head had gone. “Our next anger management support group is in two days, ask the other members there what they would recommend. It’s one thing for me to suggest something that has shown previous success in working, it’s another to hear it from someone else who has experienced what you’re going through.”

Clint nodded at her words. They definitely made sense, he would rather learn from someone else’s personal experience instead of what a therapist has read to work. No offense to her education and training.

“If you’re really worried about how you’re currently doing and whether these strategies will actually work, I can get in contact with the sorcerers for you and ask them to review the block. Just to make sure that this is the anger you either already had within you or is reminiscent from the Mind Stone. Not anything new leaking through.”

“Yes please,” Clint said. “I’d rather be safe than sorry.” He’d rather take all precautions than risk anything else happening. He refused to have a repeat of the Stark Industries incident. With either his family or anyone else.

****

**_Barton Household_ **

“You owe him an apology, y’know.”

Clint looked away from the television in surprise. “What?”

Laura nodded her head towards the television, where the live coverage of the signing of the Avengers Accords was playing. Tony Stark was up next to sign, as the last American signatory. The list of signatories was much larger than Clint had expected. James Rhodes, Bruce Banner, Carol Danvers, Hope van Dyne, and Scott Lang (why hadn’t he known about them before?) were all just the unmasked and American signatories. The X-Men and dozens of masked American vigilantes had also signed the Accords. The American Avengers alone consisted of at least fifty members, and the other Avengers units worldwide consisted of hundreds of more. So even though the United States team had finished signing, this coverage would continue for at least a few more hours for the rest of the countries who agreed with the Accords.

“You owe Tony an apology. You have already made amends with the individuals you attacked at Stark Industries and are in the process of making things right with the kids, all that is left to handle is Tony. Even if this whole situation wasn’t completely your fault, a part of you that wasn’t being manipulated was angry with him and blamed him for everything that went down. No matter how small that part may be, it still exists. He deserves it.” Laura said, starring Clint in the eyes, the scar that ran across her face and eye, catching Clint’s attention. It was large and jagged, parts of the scar more pronounced than others. Part of the scar was an ugly and angry red while the rest was different shades of white. The scar was both ugly and a beautiful masterpiece of what evil could do. He hated that scar, it was a reminder that he wasn’t able to save his wife. It was a reminder of what Rogers, Wilson, and Romanova caused.

 _Don’t forget about Stark!_ A nasty voice in the back of his head hissed angrily. _He could’ve_ _stopped it!_ Clint shook his head at the voice. He knew it was wrong and that it was a remnant of what the stone and Witch did to him and nothing new, as the sorcerers found, but he still wanted to listen to that voice at times.

Clint let out a sigh. “You’re absolutely right Laura, I do owe him one. I just don’t think I’m ready to do one. Especially face to face. I’m still too angry”

“Then just write him a letter, like you did with everyone else. All you were required to do for them was to write a letter. You only hand delivered them because you felt stable and all of your psychologists and therapists agreed. If you don’t feel ready to do that with Tony, just write and send the letter. I think it’ll help you and Tony heal. Also, it’s the least you could do.” The slight hint of anger in Laura’s voice reminded him again of the fact that he’d royally fucked up. With both Stark and his family. He wasn’t sure if Laura would ever forgive him for abandoning his family to go get unnecessary and idiotic revenge on Stark, but this letter might be a step in the right direction. For both his relationship with his wife and with repenting for his actions against Stark.

***

_Tony,_

_I know that there is a high chance that you’ll just burn this letter when you receive it, but here’s to hoping you don’t. I just wanted to apologize for what I did. For the pain and annoyance I caused you and your employees. It wasn’t right or fair of me to blame you for what went down during the DC Incident and Data Dump. You weren’t there, and you had **no** obligation to clean up other people’s messes. It was completely irrational of me._

_I know a part of my anger was caused by the Mind Stone and that HYDRA Witch, but part of the anger was my own. I was angry at you before of all of this. I was angry that an arrogant playboy like you could be so successful your whole life, while people like me had to struggle to survive. I never had a loving family or any money to fall back on. I always had to work for things. And seeing you every day on the news made me believe that you didn’t have to. I fell for the idea that you were actually the spoiled brat the media made you out to be. And instead of changing those misconceptions after the Chitauri invasion, I kept them and let them continue to build. Until they were something the Stone could latch onto and fed off of. So while I am innocent in some aspects when it comes to my terrible actions, I am not innocent in that._

_I’m terribly sorry for what I did, I don’t think I could ever apologize enough. You don’t have to forgive me, you have no obligation to, I just wanted to let you know that._

_Thank you for everything you did do to help with the fallout of the DC Incident and Data Dump._

_-Clint Barton_

*****

**_Raft Prison Facility_ **

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Clint asked Laura.

Clint saw her jaw tighten slightly before nodding. “I need to see them I need to talk to them about what they did. I need to know that they realize their mistakes and are actively trying to repent.”

After months of asking, Clint and Laura were being allowed into the Raft Facility. While Clint was fine with never seeing Rogers, Wilson, or Maximoff, Laura didn’t feel the same way. She seemed to be almost stuck on everything that went down and wasn’t able to move on. After talking to her own therapist, she decided that she would be able to have some closure once she confronted those responsible for what happened to her and the kids, and what happened to Clint. Clint was a bit nervous about the whole idea, he wasn’t sure how Laura would handle it, but she was adamant that this was what she needed so he was going to support her. He wouldn’t actually go into the rooms, because he didn’t know what he might do himself, but he wanted to be there just in case.

Things went pretty fine with Wilson, all things considering. As soon as he entered the visitor's area and saw Laura in the visitor’s room (Clint was on the other side of the glass with two guards), he went pale. Laura hadn’t even needed to introduce herself before Wilson burst into tears, crying and apologizing. Apparently, he had been paying attention during the courses the UN was having him take and he remembered Laura’s story and knew that she was harmed due to the Data Dump.

“I’m so sorry, I made a mistake. A terrible mistake. Instead of thinking and using common sense, I let someone else make the decisions and dictate our actions. And they made the wrong calls. And instead of standing up to them and changing their minds, I choose to remain ignorant and complicit in the situation. I am so sorry. I know that I can never right this wrong, but I am truly sorry.”

Clint didn’t know what he had been expecting, but he hadn’t expected Wilson to admit to his wrongs so quickly. He could tell that Laura hadn’t expected it either, with how quickly the tenseness in her shoulders disappeared at his words. She and Wilson had ended up talking for the whole 30 minutes allotted to the visit, discussing what he was learning in his courses and how he was trying to repent. By the end of the visit, Laura was showing him pictures of the kids and had promised to keep in touch with letters and phone calls.

“Why did you do that?” Clint asked while Wilson was lead away. “He had a hand in what occurred. It’s partially his fault that everything happened.”

“It was his fault, but he made a mistake. A terrible mistake that had horrendous consequences, but a mistake nonetheless. He’s obviously regretful about what happened and feels guilty. And he’s definitely trying to repent. I think he’ll figure this all out. He deserves a second chance.”

Clint couldn’t argue with his wife at her words. He could tell that he wouldn’t be able to convince her otherwise. They then headed on their way to the next meeting, the one with Maximoff. This meeting was going to be at her cell, due to the dangers Maximoff posed. Even though the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj and the head of the X-Men worked together to block her powers, they weren’t sure how well they would hold and kept her under high security. They had her wearing a magic suppressing collar as a precaution at the beginning of her sentence, but her lawyer was able to argue that the treatment was inhuman. Experts were eventually able to develop suppressor cuffs similar to the ones that Rogers was wearing and a small suppressing device was implanted in her neck as well. It may have been overkill, but not even the Witch’s lawyer was able to argue the inhumanity of the treatment, due to how easily the devices could be removed and how quickly the sorcerers and X-men could remove the mental block on her powers.

The meeting with Maximoff didn’t go as smoothly as Wilson’s did. Laura introduced herself, explaining that she was married to Clint. As soon as she mentioned Clint’s name, the Witch went off.

“You’re married to that bastard!!! I didn’t do anything to him! I’m innocent! If anyone was messing with him, it was that damn Tony Stark. They used to be teammates, so I’m sure it gave him time to manipulate your husband’s mind. All that Stark does is evil.” Maximoff snarled through the glass wall.

Laura was quiet for a moment before speaking. “I know that you think that Tony Stark is evil and destroys everything, but he didn’t have a hand in what happened to my husband. Loki, the Mind Stone, and _you_ had a hand in all of it. You may not have meant to cause the harm you did to my husband’s psyche, but it happened. All because you joined a Nazi terrorist cult and volunteered for crazy experiments.”

“It’s crazy that I wanted to avenge my parent’s death? It’s crazy that I love my family so much that I’m willing to do anything for them??” She screeched, slamming her hands against the glass.

“Ms. Maximoff, step away from the glass and calm down. Or we’ll be forced to sedate you.” One of the armed guards said, stepping towards her cell.

Maximoff snarled angrily before backing away from the glass. “I did nothing wrong, No one was willing to help me stop Stark and get revenge, I had no other choice!!!”

“I’ll make this quick,” Laura said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I just wanted to tell you that I forgive you. I forgive you for accidentally hurting my husband. You didn’t mean to, it was an accident due to the lack of knowledge you had about your powers. While ignorance isn’t a valid excuse, it does happen and I understand it. But I won’t forgive you for joining a terrorist organization. I won’t forgive you for volunteering for an experiment you didn’t understand. And I definitely won’t forgive you for not taking responsibility for your actions after the fact, once you learned about what you did. You deserve what you’ve gotten and I hope you learn from this experience. But if you don’t, I won’t feel bad about you rotting here for the rest of your life.” And with those words, Laura spun on her heel and walked away, heading towards where Clint was waiting on the other side of the cell block.

The two of them locked hands before being escorted out of the cell block, to the sounds of the Witch screaming and yelling. Yelling for Laura to come back, that she was innocent and only wished to avenge her parents, that she didn’t deserve what was happening to her, that it was Clint’s fault for being so weak minded. That Stark ruined everything. It was a relief when the guards closed the doors behind them.

“You still up for meeting up with Rogers?” Clint asked, unsure about the effect that Maximoff may have had on her.

“Definitely, I need my closure. It was great to talk to Wilson and Maximoff, I feel so much better already. Besides, we’re already here and it’d be a waste to have to come back at another time.”

This meeting was back in the same visitor’s room as before, the facility had wanted to wait for normal visitor hours to end in order to make sure extra guards were available. Just in case something went wrong during the visit. While Roger's was wearing those suppressor cuffs, the facility didn't want to risk anything. Clint was going to wait outside the glass again with two guards again and two additional guards would be in the room with Laura and Rogers.

Rogers was escorted into the room after a few minutes. He glanced curiously at Laura before sitting down. The room was quiet for a minute before Rogers spoke up. "Hi, M'am. Um, thank you so much for visiting me. I really appreciate it. I'm just a little curious about who you are and why you're here."

"I'm Laura Barton, Clint Barton's wife."

Rogers went pale at her words. "Mrs. Barton! I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you! I saw your picture during one of my courses but you um.... looked different in it."

"I understand." Rogers started to relax at her words. "I'm a little hard to recognize with the giant and ugly scar running across my face. It also doesn't help that I'm missing a finger." She waved her hand at her words. If it was possible, Rogers became even paler at her words.

"I'm so sorry about what happened to you, Mrs. Barton. I didn't mean for everything to happen the way it did."

"I know you didn't," Laura said, tapping her hand on the table. "But just because you didn't mean for it to happen doesn't make it better. In fact, it makes it worse for me. It shows me how ignorant you are and how _little_ you actually cared about the people involved. I saw the surveillance footage from the helicarrier. You didn't even hesitate with your decision to drop the helicarriers and all of the files online. Not only that, but you refused to acknowledge your mistake after the fact. You didn't even go to the Subcommittee hearing! You refused to talk to anyone about what went down! How was anyone supposed to help with the situation when they didn't even know what needed to be fixed?" The expression on Laura's face became angrier with every word.

"I'm so sorry about that. I'm still adjusting to the 21st century, so I didn't really understand how everything worked regarding DC and the Data Dump. I didn't realize what would happen." Rogers said, looking at Laura earnestly.

"And why is that?"

Rogers seemed clueless at the question. "What do you mean?"

"Why were you so clueless? I know it started off as SHIELD manipulating you by not catching you up on history and world events, but once you moved out of their facility, why didn't you learn anything? You were military man Rogers, you should know the importance of information. So why wasn't this information important? You were willing to learn pop culture references but not hard facts."

"It's difficult, ma'am. It's difficult for me to learn that the world moved on and kept on spinning without me there. It hurt to know that the impact I had during World War II had little impact on the rest of history. Pop culture was the easiest thing to focus on. New books and shows are made every day, so I don't feel left out when I focus on those things. It just feels like one of those things that anyone can fall behind on. No one in this day and age can do the same when it comes to world history. It reminds me of everything I lost, and I- I decided I didn't want to be reminded." Rogers looked slightly guilty and slightly justified. "I hope you can understand that. I didn't mean to harm anyone with my ignorance, I didn't even think it would have any ill effect. I just wanted things to change and go back to how they used to be." Rogers' voice became heated with every word. "It's not fair that I lost everything. It's not fair that the world got the chance to move on and I didn't. I want more than what I got. I DESERVE more than I got." Rogers slammed his hands down on the table angrily, causing the guards to take a step closer.

Laura was quiet for a moment before speaking. "If it was anyone else, it wouldn't have such a devastating effect. But it wasn't anyone else in this situation, it was Captain America. An icon and role model to thousands of people everywhere. Being Captain America makes you important and holds you to a higher standard. You were definitely allowed time to adjust and you were justified in wallowing in self-pity for a little while. But that time never ended for you, and you continued to live in the past. And because of that, thousands have been harmed and thousands more have suffered and died because of it. You need to realize your mistakes and accept them and do your best to NEVER do them again. Because next time? It'll be even worse. Next time? The consequences will have an even bigger and horrifying effect. You need to move out of the past and accept your new life. Otherwise? You'll never be given another chance like this." Laura said, waving her hand around the room.

"A chance like this?" Rogers asked incredulously. "What kind of chance is this?! I am locked up in a high-security prison! I won't get to see outside of this cell for years! I am being forced to see some head shrink and take some stupid classes like I'm still in grade school! How is this some second chance?"

"If you weren't Captain America, this wouldn't be happening. If you were _anyone_ else, you would've been given a life sentence and would not have access to _any_ of the resources you get to access!" Laura said, her voice hardening. "You are attending education courses that most people would die for. You are able to access the news every day to learn about whats occurring in the outside world. You have some of the best psychiatric help available. You get 3 square meals a day and a bed to sleep in at night. You. Have. Everything. Even though your actions have killed and harmed thousands of people. If you can't realize that, you don't deserve any of this!" Laura slammed her hands down angrily, breathing heavily. "It was nice talking to you, Mr. Rogers. I wish you luck with your future. Hopefully, you're able to pull your head out of your ass soon." And with those words, she stormed out of the room.

Clint took a moment to appreciate the shock on Rogers' face before following his wife down the hall. While it seemed like Rogers was making progress, he still had a far way to go. Hopefully, he was able to wake up to his errors like Clint did and learned from his mistakes. If he didn't, Clint was pretty sure that Laura wouldn't hesitate to come back and smack him across the back of his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PROMPT: I actually had a story idea about what would have happened if Tony had decided not to save anybody when the spider and Rogers decide to do that info dump. It was basically him feeling like well why should I help you guys out when Killian was blowing at my house none of you guys had my back. and when hell went to him for a job he kindly reminded her about the folder that said, Iron Man, yes Tony Stark, No and him telling her that that means that Tony Stark won't be hiring or helping anyone from Shield AKA Hydra. I made it so Colson got to Clint's family in time but Laura did get injured though and yes Clint did try to blame Tony to which Tony kindly reminded Clint that Natasha and Rogers, not him dumped all of Shield's information on the world wide web and if he had issues that he needs to take it up with his so-called friends. you think you can make my jumbled thoughts into a decent story?
> 
> Thanks again for reading! I appreciate all of the love and support everyone has given this story. Y'all are amazing! Thanks for making this journey an amazing and enjoyable one. <3  
> As always, please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments below. :)


	9. The Spider

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> So I was totally done with writing this story but after reading some comments and rereading the story, I was hit with inspiration to write another chapter! This time, discussing what happened with Natasha/Natalia before her untimely death and briefly covering what happened to Phil and Fury. It’s a quick chapter but I had to write it once I was hit with inspiration. Hopefully y’all enjoy this. 
> 
> Warning though: the ending is dark. But I thought it was fitting for one Miss Romanova.
> 
> Thanks again for reading! Please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments below. :)

**Natasha's PoV**

Natasha let out a sigh of relief when the woman glancing in her direction finally looked away. She didn’t think that woman was actually a threat, but she couldn’t but wonder if her perception was wrong. Again. Natasha still couldn’t believe how wrong she was with her perception of the Avengers and of how to handle HYDRA. She was the best of the best, she was the Black Widow. How could she had messed up so terribly? It was one thing to make a mistake, it was another to suddenly up wanted up by half of the globe, with the other half willing to hand her over if they caught her.

When she and Steve found out HYDRA was still alive and hiding within SHIELD, it was obvious to Natasha that they had to expose them for what they are and agreed with Steve to drop the data online. And she figured that would be the end of it. The world would learn the truth about HYDRA and would stop them with the information they released. If she also succeeded in taking out some personal threats at the same time, what was the harm with that?

Within hours, some of the enemies she personally had had either been eliminated or caught. It was satisfying to learn that some of the people within SHIELD she had hated and was unable to get along with were actually HYDRA agents. Phil and Clint had always given her a hard time for not being a people person, but this showed that she had a reason not to be. It also cemented the idea that she knew what she was doing as a spy and secret agent. That she was able to perceive threats, even if she wasn’t sure what the threat was.

That feeling went away once she learned about what actually happened with the files. It was shocking for her to learn that she had accidentally released classified SHIELD files along with HYDRA files. She hadn’t meant to do that, but ultimately, it wasn’t a big problem. Stark knew about the situation and as much as she hated to admit it, he was the best of the best. If anyone could fix this problem, he could. And probably in his sleep. Natasha couldn’t understand why he kept calling her about it (probably to brag) but once she answered one of his many calls, he finally stopped and left her alone.

Natasha was frustrated when she was called in by the Senate subcommittee to be questioned (interrogated) but she knew that this was something that had to happen. Steve obviously wasn’t going to talk to them and if he did, he would just make the situation worse. So Natasha sucked it up and handled it. And she had thought it went pretty well. She reminded them of the fact that they had revealed and defeated a large chunk of HYDRA, and that if it hadn’t been for the Avengers, thousands of people would’ve died. And that thousands more would if they stopped relying on the Avengers for assistance. She could tell that the committee was on the fence about the Avengers and wouldn’t hesitate to throw them under the bus for what happened if someone mentioned the perfect reason to. So she reminded them why they shouldn’t and that was that. Or at least it was supposed to be.

The day after her questioning, she learned that both Clint and Steve had been arrested for breaking into Stark Industries and for attacking its employees. Thrown off by that turn of events, she went looking through her burner phones and found a message from Clint on one of her older models. It turned out that Laura had been harmed due to the Data Dump and that Clint was seeking revenge. Clint always had pent up anger issues so it wasn’t surprising to Natasha that he was looking to harm someone. It _was_ surprising for her to learn that she had honestly forgotten about the Barton family. Natasha was always on top of things and was constantly taking stock of her allies and standing. She needed to know if there was ever a problem so that she could switch to either the offensive or defensive in order to fix the situation as quickly as possible. She couldn’t believe that she had forgotten such an important ally.

While Clint wasn’t the best ally to have on the field, he was the best ally to have for her backstory. People trusted her more when they heard Clint’s story. About how he was sent to eliminate her and instead saw her human side, so he decided to “save” her. That story alone gave her so much goodwill and sympathy points, it was important to her role in SHIELD and in the Avengers. While it wasn’t the most truthful version of the story, it was still an important one.

In reality, Natasha hadn’t let her human side show. Instead, she realized how the tides were turning. The Red Room program wouldn’t last forever, it was already showing signs of dying out and Russia’s allies were turning their attention towards their crimes, demanding justice. It only made sense for Natasha to find a new organization to ally herself with, and SHIELD seemed like a viable option. It was a well-funded organization and was under the radar, with only very few people outside of it knowing of its existence. So if she had played Clint a little to get an into SHIELD, who could blame her? Besides, it wasn’t like anyone actually knew what went down. Just that Clint thought he could save her and SHIELD went along with it, making her out to be both a victim and a hero. Which was a story everyone always loved. The story of a strong woman who was victimized and became even stronger so that she could defeat them. And this story only held up when Clint was around to tell it. So she quickly planned her break in to free him but before she could make her way to Stark Industries, she learned that the subcommittee had decided on her guilt and put a price on her head.

Natasha quickly fled the country, thinking that it would blow over and that she would be safe overseas. Instead, things became worse. Instead of Stark pushing things under the rug, he went along with the investigations and trials. He actively participated in them and provided data they required. Instead of the public realizing their mistake and realizing that the Avengers are important, they continued to turn their back on them. It was discovered that Clint was actually being mentally manipulated and was shipped off to his family farm ( _no longer useful_ ). Steve’s trial opened Pandora’s box and he was thrown in the Raft for everything he did ( _no longer useful_ ). Pandora’s box also revealed what Coulson and Fury were up to with the world’s governments and Stark’s bank accounts, so they were quickly found and locked up in the Raft as well ( _no longer useful_ ). She was quite surprised with the charges that were able to stick. Espionage, fraud, homicide, manslaughter, treason, the list went on. Yes, they had committed those crimes, but they had been for the “greater good”, so it threw her for a loop to know that those charges stuck and that they would never see the outside of a cell again. If they were able to get away with locking up Fury and Coulson, it would be extremely easy to have her locked up as well.

Natasha couldn't figure out which part of the situation was worse: the fact that Fury and Coulson’s trials set a precedent for hers or the fact that she could no longer access their resources. No more connections, no more money, nothing that she could use except for her charms and skills. She quickly moved from country to country, trying to evade capture. But everywhere she went, there were eyes. People were watching her, she could tell. But she couldn’t tell who it was!

At first, every time she perceived a threat, she quickly took them out. And she figured that was that. But it wasn’t. She learned that those who took out weren’t actual threats. They had no connections to anyone who could possibly be hunting her down. They had just looked at her one too many times. She had messed up and perceived everything wrong. _Again_. So she stopped taking down any perceived threats and kept moving. Hoping that she wasn’t making a mistake. Hoping that the actual threats weren’t hiding right behind her. Or in plain sight.

“Excuse me, Miss?” Natasha was pulled out of her thoughts at the voice and turned to face the man talking to her. She quickly looked him over, noting the expensive suit and shoes he was wearing. He would be a good target financially. If she nicked his wallet, she was sure that she would be able to find a few hundred dollar bills in there and a few bank card she could quickly drain. She would finally be able to afford a flight back to the United States and would finally talk to Stark. She would make him fix this. Or else.

“Yes?” Natasha responded coyly, fluttering her eyelashes and crossing her ankles, drawing his attention to her bare legs and the short skirt she was wearing.

“Can I buy you a drink?” He asked, leaning into her space while giving her a quick look up and down.

“I would love that.” She responded, leaning forward slightly, giving him a quick glance at her cleavage. _Easy target._ All men were the same: they all wanted sex.

After flirting and drinking with the man, Rich ( _ironic_ ), they left for his hotel room. Before they could make it there, she was suddenly hit in the back of the head and was knocked out.

****  
Natasha came to find herself tied up to a chair and her mouth gagged. Her ankles were tied to the leg’s chairs, her wrists to the arms of the chair, and her neck to the chair’s top rail. She tried to pull them free but was unable to make them budge. After a few attempts, she gave up and choose to analyze the room around her. It looked like she was in an abandoned warehouse, and there nothing around her. Shit.

“Miss Romanov, or should I say, Miss Romanova?” Natasha turned her head slightly towards the voice, surprised to see the speaker was Rich. _Shit_ , she’d messed up again. Why hadn’t she realize that he was a threat?

“Rich, or is that even your name?” She attempted to sneer, the gag muffling her voice slightly.

“Of course it’s his name, you dumbass.” Another voice snapped. Natasha was surprised to see that Rich wasn’t alone. She was surrounded. There were at least 20 people surrounding her. Why didn’t she notice them? Was she drugged? “If you actually cared about others, you would realize that you know us. We are just a small amount of SHIELD agents you exposed during the Data Dump.”

“And you actually worked with some of us on a few missions as well. If you had cared to pay attention to anyone other than yourself.” Another agent said, looking at their nails. “I worked with you on at least ten missions.”

“I know I worked with you on at least five.”

“Seven.”

Natasha scoured her memory for their faces. She was able to faintly remember some of the faces, but not completely. On those missions, she wasn’t concerned with them. She was concerned with the mission and the target. The people assisting her hadn’t honestly mattered at the time.

“We know it’s likely that you don’t remember us, and we don’t want you to. What we do want though, is for you to suffer.” Rich said, pulling a knife out of his pocket. Natasha’s stomach dropped at the sight.

“To suffer like we did. We were hurt, both physically and emotionally.” Another agent said, rolling up their sleeves. “We lost friends and family because of what you did.”

“Unfortunately for us, you don’t care about other people. So there’s no one else we can go after. Except for you.” Evil smirks spread across every agent’s face at the words.

Natasha tried to let out a muffled scream as the agents converged on her, all pulling out their weapon of choice, but it was barely audible over the sounds of their laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> PROMPT: I actually had a story idea about what would have happened if Tony had decided not to save anybody when the spider and Rogers decide to do that info dump. It was basically him feeling like well why should I help you guys out when Killian was blowing at my house none of you guys had my back. and when hell went to him for a job he kindly reminded her about the folder that said, Iron Man, yes Tony Stark, No and him telling her that that means that Tony Stark won't be hiring or helping anyone from Shield AKA Hydra. I made it so Colson got to Clint's family in time but Laura did get injured though and yes Clint did try to blame Tony to which Tony kindly reminded Clint that Natasha and Rogers, not him dumped all of Shield's information on the world wide web and if he had issues that he needs to take it up with his so-called friends. you think you can make my jumbled thoughts into a decent story?


End file.
